Challenging Relationships
by Nascar-Fan-99-1-2-29-88
Summary: She had a ten year relationship end and is now spending time with her brother in order to get over it. But, when she finds someone that changes the world for the better, what would she do?


**Summary: Been dating for ten years and thought that they would last forever, but Alex Martin had ended their relationship with Serena Hamlin. Serena now thinks that she would never find a guy quite like Alex, until a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway that she meets a Nationwide Series driver that would change her world for the good. But, will outside forces influence Serena's choices, and those outside forces be the people closest to her. But, what challenges would she face when she finally makes a decision?**

**.x.**

_**Flashback  
>May 10, 2008<strong>_

"You wanted to talk to me Alex?" Asked twenty two year old Serena Hamlin as she'd entered the house of her boyfriend of ten years Alex Martin. Serena and Alex grew up in the same town of Chesterfield, Virginia and they didn't officially met until 1998 at a short track in Chesterfield where Alex was watching his two other siblings Danica and Nick Martin race and Serena was there to support her brother Denny Hamlin. Afterwards, Serena and Alex had gotten to know each other and had been going out ever since for the past ten years.

"Yeah, um…" Alex Martin was sitting on a chair on the other side of the room from Serena, who had taken a seat on the nearest thing that she could find, which was a couch. "I really need to talk to you," He said with a very nervous tone in his voice that's making him sound like he doesn't want to talk about what he's going to talk about at all.

"About what?" Serena asked.

"Look, the past ten years of our relationship have been amazing I-I never realized how special of a woman you are and how lucky I am to be dating a woman like yourself for those past ten years and-and-and…" Alex was trying to find the right words, but the right words weren't coming out of his mouth.

"And what?" Serena asked.

"I think we should end it," Alex blurted out.

Serena was silent for a few moments, processing what she had just heard, before asking, "We should _what?"_

"End this relationship," Alex said.

"But why?" Serena asked, sounding like she wanted to bawl her eyes out. "But I thought you just said a few minutes ago that you loved me?" She asked.

"I do, with all my heart, but I think….we should see other people," Alex said.

"Why?" Serena asked, changing her emotion from sadness to anger. "You're cheating on me?" She asked.

"No, no, no, no, no, that's not it," Alex said, defending his case.

"But why the hell did you just say that you want us to see other people?" Serena asked.

"I just think that we should. That's all," Alex said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"That's all?" Serena asked. She thought about what she was going to say before finally said, "Fine. If you want this ten year relationship to end, then, it's done. But don't expect me to come crawling back to you ten years from now," Then she'd walked out of the house, crying her eyes out.

_**End Flashback  
>May 23, 2008<strong>_

"Denny, can I ask you something?" Serena asked.

It was a beautiful May morning at Charlotte Motor Speedway as Serena was lying on the couch in Denny's motorhome as he was doing something in another part of the motorhome.

"What?" Denny asked.

"Can you kind of remind why I'm basically forced to travel with you on the road?" Serena asked.

"Because after you're breakup with Alex, Mom thought that you would turn suicidal and kill yourself so she asked me if you would travel with me, I said yes, and here you are," Denny said. After Serena and Alex's breakup, Serena was crying every day since then. Serena and Denny's mother Mary-Lou somehow managed to find out about Alex's and Serena's breakup, had offered Denny to have Serena be with him on the road with the NASCAR circuit because Mary-Lou thought that Serena would be more comfortable with him, and that was how Serena ended up lying on the couch in Denny's motorhome.

"Oh come on, I'm not _that _emotional," Serena said.

"Oh please, you basically bawl your eyes out when someone dies on a TV show," Denny pointed out.

"Well is it my fault that I get attached to a simple TV show character?" Serena asked.

"Good point but still, Mom doesn't want you to be sad and crying over a breakup and thinking that no guy that's like Alex is going to go out with you for the rest of your life," Denny said as he walked to the room that Serena was in and ended up sitting on her legs because he felt like it.

"I wasn't planning on it," Serena said with a roll of her eyes.

Before Denny could say anything, a knock was heard. "Come in!" Denny said. After he said that, the door opened to see a girl walking into the motorhome with long blonde hair that was in a pony tail and was wearing a white tank top with a yellow smiley face, black ripped sparkly skinny jeans and knee high black suede boots.

"Is this your girlfriend Denny?" Serena asked with a slight jokingly laugh.

"No, I'm Summer Keselowski," Summer said. "And I was about to ask if you were Denny's girlfriend," She said.

"No, little sister," Serena said. "Name's Serena," She added.

"Summer, why are you here?" Denny asked.

"Tia's looking for you for some reason," Summer said.

Denny sighed and said, "Alright, I'll be back. Serena, don't be causing trouble, and especially don't be causing trouble with Summer," He said, and added a joking smile as he walked out of the motorhome.

"You guys friends or something?" Serena asked as she sat up on the couch as Summer sat down beside her.

"Well, we're not good friends, but we're friends," Summer said. "So, what brings you onto the NASCAR circuit with your bro?" Summer asked.

"Well, it's kind of personal," Serena said, looking at the ground.

"Come on, you can tell me," Summer said. "I promise I won't tell a soul," She added.

"You sure?" Serena asked.

"Yes," Summer said with a smile. "Heck, one of my best friends back in Michigan told me a secret when I was five," She started. "And I'm twenty three now, so that would be eighteen years that I haven't told anyone," She finished. "So you can tell me anything," She added.

Serena sighed before saying, "For the past ten years I've been in this relationship with a boy named Alex which we were basically growing up together since we were living in the same town basically. But just two weeks ago he wanted the relationship to end because we needed to 'see other people'. That would have led me to being sad and my mother to think that I was going to turn suicidal and kill myself, so, she'd asked Denny if he would want me to be on the road with him because she thought that I would be more comfortable with him around. He said yeah, and here I am telling all of this to someone who I just met," Serena said.

"Alex who?" Summer asked.

"Martin," Serena replied.

"Is he the son of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team owner Trent Martin?" Summer asked.

"Yeah," Serena said. "You heard of Alex or something?" Serena asked.

"Well, I've heard of his father since I used to race in the Truck Series," Summer said with a shrug of her shoulders. "But aww, I'm so sorry to hear that the relationship ended between you and Alex," Summer added.

"It's alright," Serena said with a shrug of her shoulders. She leaned her head back and looked at the ceiling.

"Hey, want me to find another boyfriend for you?" Summer asked. "Because I know a ton of guys who would want to date a beautiful woman like you," She added.

"Don't they mind if I'm related to a NASCAR driver?" Serena asked.

"No, they won't mind," Summer said. "Hey, they know a NASCAR driver, I'm sure they won't mind dating a driver's sister," She added.

Serena thought about it for a few minutes before saying, "Thanks, but no thanks. I need some time to get over this breakup before going to a new relationship, which probably won't last long either," Serena said.

"Well, alright then," Summer said. "But on a completely different topic, may I see your phone?" Summer asked.

Serena looked at Summer weirdly, before asking, "Uh, why?"

"Just hand me your phone if you have one," Summer said.

Hesitantly, Serena dug into her jean pocket and brought out her Blackberry Curve. She handed it to Summer. Summer played with the phone for a few minutes before handing it back to Serena. "Um, what did you do to it?" Serena asked.

"I just placed my number in there," Summer said.

"Oh. Thought you changed my language settings to some language that I wouldn't understand," Serena said with a slight laugh.

"Well, I only do that to my brothers' phones when I'm bored," Summer said. "Hey, wnana meet some awesome people?"

"Meh, sure," Serena said as the two got off of the couch and walked out of the motorhome.


End file.
